


Chin Boy

by teekatea



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (bad fluff), (i have grown as a writer and a person since then), (i wrote it in 2013), (we all have), F/M, Fluff, an old fic i wrote a few years ago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-01-04 14:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18345881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teekatea/pseuds/teekatea
Summary: A few Whouffle drabbles that I took down from the shelf, dusted off, and put on AO3.





	1. Chin Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a nickname is given.

The Doctor didn't usually find himself at a loss for words. His ability to constantly prattle on about absolutely nothing was one of his most enigmatic qualities (in his opinion). But this girl - this Clara Oswald - she always left him at a loss for words. And he wasn't sure yet, but he thought he was starting to like it.

He opened the TARDIS doors with a quick push and bounded inside, shutting the doors and leaping to the console. That was another one of the aforementioned enigmatic qualities: his insistence on doing everything in (literal) leaps and bounds.

Clara, whom he hadn't seen because she was leaning against the entrance to the inner corridors of the TARDIS, smiled at his quirkiness as he danced his way around the console, throwing switches and flipping levers. He pulled one last lever, securing the TARDIS in the time vortex, and kissed the console with a smack of his lips.

"Are these the sort of shenanigans you get up to when I'm not around, Doctor?" Clara asked, grinning when he spun around in surprise.

"You - er - I was just - blowing dust away! That's it. The TARDIS has always been dusty. I meant to dust it, but you know, it's so difficult to find dusting time. And anyway, there's a lot of dust in space, and I do travel through space. Sometimes." The Doctor cut off abruptly when Clara raised her eyebrow and frowned.

She laughed at his expression. "Oh, don't look so put out, it makes your chin look even bigger than it already is," she said, trying to stifle her laughter.

"My chin? There's nothing wrong with my chin!" the Doctor retorted scratching the chin in question.

"Ooh, careful there, dear, someone could lose an eye." The statement just made the Doctor frown more, which sent Clara into another fit of giggles. Coming up the console stairs to where the Doctor was, Clara tapped his chin.

"I suppose I'll have to get used to it, Chin Boy."

"Chin Boy? Oi!"

But Clara was already gone down the hall, her laughter echoing off the corridors.


	2. Chin Chin Cher-ee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a movie is watched and a song is sung.

One day when Clara was wandering around the TARDIS looking for something to do, she heard music coming from behind one of the doors. She opened the door and found the Doctor sprawled in front of what looked like a giant movie screen, furiously writing notes as  _Mary Poppins_ played in front of him.

"Doctor?" Clara said timidly, not wanting to startle him. He jumped and paused the film with a remote, and then stood up to greet her.

"Hullo! I was just doing some research." Clara glanced at the papers strewn around the room.

"Research? On Mary Poppins?" she asked, wondering if he was joking.

The Doctor nodded. "I'd heard from a friend of mine - his name's Jack, you'd love to meet him - that she was an important and influential Time Lord, and that - strangely enough - her companions were mostly young children. What's more," he continued, oblivious to Clara's efforts to control her expression, "she seemed to prefer staying with her companions instead of taking them travelling with her. Have you ever heard of someone doing that?"

"'Course I have. She's a nanny!" At the Doctor's dumbfounded expression, Clara couldn't stifle her laughter any more.

"You mean like you?" Clara calmed a little as she considered.

"Well, not exactly like me, but close enough." The Doctor frowned, and his chin jutted out.

"You're about halfway through, Chin Boy, so we might as well finish the movie. It's a good one."

The Doctor decided not to argue, and after watching the film had to agree that it was rather good. Even if Clara had insisted on singing "Chim Chim Cher-ee" to him with her own lyrics, the most notable change being the replacemenet of every "chim" with "chin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, dear reader! This is an old fic, but I haven't decided whether I'm going to leave in all the chapters, hence the unknown number of total chapters. Thanks for reading, and thanks to the person who left kudos!


	3. You'll Always Be My Chin Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a name is remembered and another, reminded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set right after the episode "The Name of the Doctor," the series 7 finale.

The Doctor burst through the TARDIS doors with Clara in his arms and sprinted down the hallway to her room, not bothering to navigate the TARDIS away from Trenzalore. He knew the TARDIS would get them into the time vortex herself - she wanted out of this place even more than he did. The Doctor lay Clara down on her bed and sonicked her, checking anxiously for any injuries. He found numerous burns and set to work fixing them, running to the medic room and returning with his arms overflowing with bandages and salves.

As the Doctor worked, Clara woke, watching him first through half-closed eyes. She smiled and opened her eyes the rest of the way when he noticed she was awake.

"I heard her, you know," said Clara in a croaky voice. "River. When she said your name to open the tomb. She was there the whole time. And even before that, I remembered. I read it in that book in the library."

The Doctor sighed, seeming to deflate, and sat down on the edge of Clara's bed. "I know River was there. And I know you could hear her. But she left, she - faded. And I don't know if I'll ever see her again."

Clara reached up and rubbed his arm, and he started, but did not shy away. "You'll be fine, Doctor. I know it's hard to get over people you lose - god knows you know it too. If you ever want to talk, or anything - I'm here." Even as she said the words, Clara felt how lame and insufficient they sounded in relation to the magnitude of the Doctor's loss.

The Doctor smiled, and though the smile was thin and made him look years older, it was sincere.

"Why didn't you tell me that you could see her, though?" asked Clara. "Then I wouldn't have had to hide the fact that I was talking to her."

The Doctor's smile deepened, and he shook his head, standing up and reaching for another bandage.

"Spoilers."

Clara rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. But I'll get it out of you someday. And just so you know, it doesn't really matter that I know your name. You'll always be my Chin Boy."

"I'm sure I will be," the Doctor murmured as he turned around, hiding a smile by picking up a tube of burn cream.

When the Doctor finally finished tending to Clara's wounds, she had fallen asleep. He kissed her softly on the forehead before heading out of the room. Before he closed the door, he glanced back at Clara, sleeping peacefully, and stroked his chin. Shaking his head, he turned to shut the door.

"Chin Boy, that's me."


	4. Good Night, Chin Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a nightmare is had.

"NO!"

The Doctor jolted awake, scrambling to leap up from the floor. He had fallen asleep while tinkering around under the TARDIS console again.

"You can't! I won't let you!"

Not even pausing to grab his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor sprinted down the hall toward Clara's room, where the shouts were coming from.

He paused outside her door and knocked, waiting for an answer. The only one he received was another agonized scream, "Give her back!" Seeing that as invitation enough, the Doctor opened the door to Clara's room.

He found her cocooned in a blanket, and for one bizarre second he thought it was eating her as she struggled against it. Then he realized that she was having a nightmare -  _stupid_ \- and rushed to her, helping her free her arms and saying soothing nonsense words as he stroked her hair, trying to comfort her.

Clara was somehow still asleep, but her muscles were taut with fear of horrors that the Doctor couldn't see. After unsuccessfully trying to get her to relax, the Doctor finally climbed into the bed with her, sitting up with her head laying on his shoulder.

He held her gently and rocked back and forth, and slowly she began to really fall asleep. When he was absolutely sure that Clara wouldn't wake up, the Doctor slipped out from under her and drew the covers up around her, smoothing them flat over her shoulders.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Clara's eyes fluttered open, heavy with sleep.

"Good night, Chin Boy," she said quietly, and closed her eyes, her breathing deep and even.

"Good night, Clara," said the Doctor, and he kissed her on the temple. He walked to the door and turned to look at her again, but she had truly fallen asleep. With the slightest smile creasing the corner of his mouth, the Doctor left the room.


	5. Show Me the Stars, Chin Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a nightmare is discussed.

The Doctor was lying on his back next to the console, staring up at the TARDIS's ceiling, when Clara walked in. Her hair was damp from a shower and there were dark flecks on her lavender jumper where droplets of water had seeped in.

Clara cocked her head and surveyed the scene. "Doctor, what are you doing?"

He craned his neck to see her properly. "You had a nightmare last night. What were you dreaming about?"

Clara sighed (both at his blunt change of subject and the memory of the nightmare) and sat down next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"My mum died when I was sixteen. It was a car accident. I wasn't there when it happened. My dad tried to joke about it because she saved him from a car accident when they first met. He used to say she'd be disappointed in him for not paying her back for what she did all those years ago, but - well. It wasn't very funny.

"I've been having this dream since we left Akhaten - I'm back in the temple and the parasite is talking to me and he has my mother, and she says that the only thing that can save her is the leaf, the most important leaf in existence. But I can't give it back to her because it's gone, and I reach out for her but then she's gone too and I can't get her back. Not - not ever."

The Doctor looked up in surprise. Clara had maintained an even tone throughout the retelling of her nightmare, but in that last sentence there had been a queer quiver in her voice. There were no tears on her cheeks, but her eyes were strangely bright.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's my fault. I took you there."

Clara shook her head. "It was my choice. And it was the right choice. I just - sometimes I forget how much I miss her."

The Doctor did not look like he really believed he was forgiven, so Clara stretched out on the floor of the console with her head right next to his and her feet pointing in the opposite direction.

"So why are you lying here?" she asked, looking up at the green-grey ceiling with him.

"I've done so many terrible things, Clara. I've destroyed people, civilizations, worlds. And you were there for a lot of that, even if I didn't see you."

Clara nodded, and the Doctor continued.

"It's easy to forget how much I regret doing those things when I look at you. If there's just one person like you or like anyone else that's travelled with me, it's all worth it. You remind me of what I'm fighting for, of why the universe is worth it. But sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes it catches up, you see, and then I've got to run faster or it'll get its hold on me. And sometimes the only thing that keeps me from going mad is seeing the stars."

Clara turned her face to the side, mere inches from the Doctor's.

"Well then, Chin Boy, you'll just have to show me the stars."

The Doctor turned his head to face her, and seemed surprised at how close she was to him. He smiled softly, the same broken smile she had seen in his most vulnerable moments, but now it was different. Less broken, more...bent.

Then he winked, and a rakish grin spread across his face. And he was standing up, pulling her up with him as he began his dance around the TARDIS console.


	6. Whatever You Say, Chin Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some tension is manufactured.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Clara rubbed the edge of the TARDIS console with trepidation.

The Doctor, on the other hand, seemed almost manic in his lack of anxiety. "Of course I am! I know you, and I know the TARDIS even better!"

"Doctor. The last time I tried to fly the TARDIS, it crashed and we almost died!"

"Well, that's always the best way for things to turn out, isn't it?"

"Er-"

"So you agree!" The Doctor wasn't listening to her at all. "The first thing we do is flip that green switch over there." He gestured wildly to his left.

"Doctor, there are four green switches."

"Ah." The Doctor looked puzzled for a moment, as if he had never noticed before. "Then I suppose you'll have to flip them one by one until something happens."

"Until  _what_ happens?"

But the Doctor was off on the other side of the console, pulling a lever with a triangular handle.

"Right then." Clara looked at the green switches and reached for the first one.  _Here goes nothing._ She flipped the switch and tensed, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. She flipped the second one. Still nothing. After flipping the third switch, Clara started to become bemused.

"Doctor," she called out as she reached for the fourth switch, "is anything supposed to be-"

She flipped the switch, and the TARDIS shut down completely.

The buzzing of the Doctor's sonic preceded its green light as he came around the console toward Clara. She reached out toward his free hand and his fingers curved around hers.

"What's wrong? What did I do?" she whispered.

"I think this one's my fault, actually," the Doctor said, checking the reading on his screwdriver. Suddenly it flashed brightly and made a high-pitched whirring noise.

"Ah. It's entirely my fault."

"What's going on, Doctor?" The Doctor turned to face Clara in the dim light of the screwdriver.

"I left the proton fusers on. That last switch turned on the electron initializers, which, well, caused a tiny explosion."

"Where?"

"In the library. Nothing to worry about," he said, catching the look in Clara's widening eyes, "but we'll have to wait for the TARDIS to fix herself."

"She seems to be rather good at that," Clara murmured. "How long will that take?"

"Hmm...an hour, give or take?"

Clara sighed. "All right." She turned to head to her room.

The Doctor caught her shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"I left a book in my room, so I figured I'd get some reading in."

"You can't. Your room isn't there right now. It technically doesn't exist anymore."

"It-what?"

The Doctor plopped down on the ground with his back against the railing. Clara, seeing as she had nowhere else to go, sat across from him with her back against the console.

"The TARDIS console is the only tangible area-the only room that really exists. All the others are constantly shifting and changing based on what or where the TARDIS wants them to be. If she wants them to stay where they are, they will. That's why your room is always in the same place. It wouldn't be if she decided to change it-though that would be quite rude."

Clara decided to keep to herself the fact that the TARDIS had decided to hide her bedroom the first time she'd spent a night aboard (and the fifty tired, cranky versions of herself that hadn't been able to find the room either hadn't helped endear the machine to her). That had been when the TARDIS hadn't known who or what she waas, and she was sure the machine hadn't meant anything by it. Thinking back on the days when she and the TARDIS hadn't gotten along brought a small smile to Clara's face, and she looked into the distance, not noticing that the Doctor had stopped talking or that he was looking at her with a tender expression and a matching smile.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "How are the kids? I haven't seen them since we took them to Hedgewick's."

"Artie can't wait to go somewhere with us again. He had the time of his life. Angie, on the other hand, is more concerned about whether you're really my boyfriend or not." Clara rolled her eyes. "Teenagers."

The Doctor frowned. "Why would she care?"

Clara leaned in conspiratorially. "Well, don't tell anyone, but I think she wants you for herself."

The Doctor opened his mouth, then closed it, then repeated the action. "I-why?"

"Beats me. It's definitely not the chin."

The TARDIS console powered up suddenly, and both Clara and the Doctor jumped. They stood at the same time, then froze, wondering how on earth they had managed to get so close together. There was barely a hand's width between them. Clara could almost feel the tension radiating off of him like it was heat.

The Doctor looked down at Clara, wondering what to do. He felt his hearts go out of rhythm for a moment and took a shaky breath. His stomach jolted.  _What is wrong with me?_

Clara laughed suddenly, breaking the tension. She leaned forward and gave the Doctor's chin a gentle peck, then stepped away.

"I think I'll go and get that book now. Do you think you could take me home?"

"Of-of course! I'll get right on it." He took another breath, shaking his head and turning back toward the console.

Clara began to walk toward the inside of the TARDIS, and called over her shoulder, "Don't forget to turn off the floozy protons!"

"Proton fusers.  _Fusers_ , not floozies!"

He could hear the grin on her face as she turned away and said, "Whatever you say, Chin Boy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Sorry I've been away for a while, life and school got very busy all of a sudden. Thank you to everyone who's left kudos - I really didn't think people would care about this (very, very old) fic, and it's wonderful to see that people are still actively involved in fandom and fanworks. And even if you didn't leave kudos, thanks for spending time reading my revamped juvenile ramblings. Til next time!


End file.
